Marriage Relationships

How marriage is viewed and handled is different depending on a person's definition of the word. We associated sanctity and progression as two terms commonly associated with marriage among people of the LDS faith. We talked about how Eve was created as an "help meet" for Adam which means she was important and equal to him. We know that husband and wife are to be equal partners, but this doesn't mean that their roles are the same. To determine what needs to be done and who should do what in a marriage, we have great revelation to point us in the right direction. We should also study it out, ask God, and follow His promptings to have a successful marriage and family. This is the purpose of a covenant marriage where both partners have made promises to each other and to God rather than a contractual marriage where the couple only makes promises to one another. We talked about critical tasks of a new marriage including thing such as blending lives, setting clear boundaries, budgeting resources, open communication, making decisions together, etc. We learned that marital satisfaction goes up until the birth of the first child, then goes down, and eventually levels off. The same pattern is repeated with each child. Because of this, it is important to constantly show love and consideration to each other and to continue dating all throughout marriage.